


And Teach Them How to War

by ParadoxR



Series: Unto the Breach, Dear Friends [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternative Canon, Gen, Stargate SG-1 Virtual Season 9, anti-Cam, anti-Mitchell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1789876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadoxR/pseuds/ParadoxR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stand-alone: Carter on the prospect of Mitchell's transfer (non-canon solution).</p><p>Does not have Mitchell as CO of SG-1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So Becomes a Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Got shot, choose…”: This may just be plot device for cop shows.  
> TIS: Time in Service (20 years is “normal").
> 
> There’s nothing so becomes a man…

A/N: Edited from what was chapters 3 and 4 of "Unto the Breach, Dear Friends." Not for people that prefer Mitchell to Carter as CO of SG-1. This picks up just before Mhe goes OW (because _that_ was a great way to get good people dead), but explains everything from the bizarre “pet the Gate” and flashback scenes. Mini spoiler for who Pete was.

* * *

_Inefficiency, failure, and funerals._

_Every SG knew that the only time more dangerous that your first step through the Gate was your wingman’s._

 

Which, of course, brings her to Cam. She’d been ecstatic when General O’Neill had announced his potential transition last year, considering how long they’d been looking for a willing pilot that might pass muster. His work in the Freeze really had set him apart from the pilots/officers of his caliber, and his record showed he’d make a great Carrier if he recovered. But now—she shook her head at the discomfort—the more Mitchell bothered her about joining him, the more nervous she got about how little he understood his potential role at the SGC. They weren’t supposed to be back at all, but if she needed a Carrier, it was clearly Teal’c. Of course, they and Daniel had all hoped at the proof-of-concept that they’d be long gone by then. Nonetheless, airborne delivery for SGs was long overdue—particularly as they worked on non-Goa’uld issues that were often farther from Gates. Continents farther.

So, she’d been proud that they’d finally managed to outfit the first set of SGC Jumpers for airborne ops. What she hadn’t foreseen before Atlantis was that they’d scoop all the best pilots (which made sense, of course). Finding someone willing to lead such a huge transition as this galaxy’s war wound down had been almost impossible. As happy as they all were about the war’s end, none of the pilot-plus-squadron commanders on her, Reynolds, O’Neill, or Hammond’s top pick lists were eager to take the mantle of a project everyone in Washington hoped they could cancel. It’d been discouraging, but she hardly blamed them. Of course, as word spread now, Mitchell would have some competition.

He was eager, though, which is something the better-fit candidates didn’t have. Unfortunately, it was slowly dawning on her that that eagerness came from  _The Legend of SG-1_  more than the opportunity to do what he does best (also, really learn what he has no idea how to do) at the SGC. He’d been in “legend” mode nonstop even in the hospital, and she should’ve knuckled in and told him then. She should have, but she’d clawed her way back from the brink of extinction far too many times from far worse mental predicaments to have the heart to shut him down.

She had felt guilty about it though. By the time Bill mentioned he was walking, it was weighing her so heavily that even Pete had noticed.  _Let’s ignore that fact that that was so odd, shall we?_  He’d been confused per usual (though she’d BS’d the backstory pretty badly, per usual), and it took him a while to get past some sort of “get shot, choose your unit” mentality (apparently that was a cop thing?). In the end, he’d laughed, which was fortunate—she still remembered how territorial Jonas used to get over her “fanboys.” _So this dolt wants to chase you by moving from like medical examiner to SVU captain?_

She wonders not for the first time whether General O’Neill had sensed that in Cam when he’d gone to assess him. He certainly had the knack of detecting them after all these years. All the more reason for him to get SG-1 going their separate ways, though in her case her both he and Hammond had been on her for years to get HWS science into some sort of long-term shape.

 

She sighs. Landry doesn’t seem to be her biggest fan either, and neither he nor Cam have wrapped theirs heads around the SGC. _That’s your job, Carter. Fans or not._

Snagging a new general to prevent in-breeding makes sense. But a brand new operator as flagship CO? Keeping Carrier as the flagship program even as another war mounts on their doorstep? She grimaces. The thought of getting Cam through 1C training—with no incoming tactical, diplomatic or scientific skills 4 years from retirement TIS—isn’t exactly appealing, and she’s not sure Landry even likes the budget numbers for their training levels. _So, convince him. For Elliot._

_Mansfield. Stanton. Sullivan._

Elliot had been the last time they’d hit that mistake, but there were always far too many others left to make.


	2. Stiffen the Sinews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SQ/DO: Squadron Director of Operations  
> FGO; CGO: Field/Company Grade Officer, nominally either under or over 10 years in service (but not a general). CGO goes to AF captain (O-3); FGO there to colonel (O-6).  
> A1C; MSgt: two enlisted ranks, one at ~16 months, the other at ~16 years but minimum 8 (he’s a fast burn).  
> UMD: Unit Manpower Document.  
> Everyone owes everyone everything: Can you tell how much this plot device bothers me?

_But when the blast of war blows in our ears…stiffen the sinews [of your muscles]._

Early-in-Episode spoiler for "Death Knell" (716). Also season 1, but you should probably go finish that first if you haven't. (Welcome to Stargate!) Military jargon in the glossary (you might want to pre-read it).

* * *

 

_Mansfield. Stanton. Sullivan._

_Elliot had been the last time they’d made that mistake, but there were always far too many others to make._

 

Their faces weigh on her, and she struggles to justify a brand new flagship operator to them. To Elliot, still a baby-face, laying down his life in a 17 patch. To every other hero who’d never had or been given the chance to make such an inane jump. To every hero that would have died if someone had.

She sighs. SQ/DO? Maybe. Cam’s record was spotless, but he’d spent some 15 years in a fighter cockpit exhibiting no particular interest in moving beyond it until SG-1.  _And that for all the wrong reasons_. Maybe they’d gotten themselves into this wrong, darnit. But General O’Neill had seem something in him. It was her job to convert that thing into something they could use.

And she knows he’s a leader. Not an innovator, which is a problem, but great in the cockpit, hard-charging adrenaline junky ready to take his birds anywhere. - _Too wild.- Quiet._ But out of the cockpit? Well, she hadn’t pegged him as as clueless at the Academy as he appeared to be about the SGC. Just nearsighted, she hoped. - _Ignorant. Blind.-  –I said quiet, Jac …me._ And to be fair, the SGC was basically the only spot on Earth where  _no one_ made FGO or even senior CGO without serious supervisory experience. Like, talk your A1C literally back from a ledge after they freeze and almost blow a foothold situation, serious.

 

 _‘I could’ve killed six billion people today.’_ She grimaces at the memory, but knows she’ll see the MSgt-select that weekend. A kid no more and a hero by all rights, leading through this mess for so long. Her family, all of them—and here she was leading them to plunge back into it. She shakes her musings: could they trust Mitchell in that? No one seemed eager as yet, though that was normal for all but the most seasoned leaders. But his fanboying was not helping matters.

 

And could she do this to Cam? Drop him into the middle of a squadron-turned-group forged in fires of accountability—fires hot enough to scorch even seasoned Spec Ops veterans at their read-ins? They all recover quickly, of course - _or quit-_ , but she remembers it herself, too.  _How old were you when Hathor showed up? 28?_

Could he hack it in a place where they’d fought their own government—Kinsey’s iron grip on their UMD— tooth and nail to scale up from scratch? Where everyone from the base 2IC to the Gate technicians juggling multiple positions, and even the greenest had enough to fill their nightmares?

Could he learn? …‘ _I came here to learn from you_.’ She grimaced at the recollection. Could he realize that everyone here owes  _everyone_ everything? She hoped he wouldn’t have to learn the hard way, but just to grasp that those extra moments in Antarctica are nothing like spending days evading Jaffa or Kull Warriors carrying a nonambulatory teammate. Or a weapons chip that she could just destroy if she were willing to set the program back a few precious months.

 

Her eyes press together, squeezing on the memories of too many wounded in too long a war. Whether in order to keep them in or out, she wasn’t sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Freeze*: Nickname for Antarctica.  
> “Got shot, choose…”: I have no idea if this is a thing. It may be a plot device for cop shows.  
> TIS: Time in Service (20 years is “normal").
> 
> There’s nothing so becomes a man…


End file.
